


Interior Disaster

by Miragefiction



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-02
Packaged: 2018-03-05 00:45:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3098663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miragefiction/pseuds/Miragefiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kotetsu and Barnaby are trying to build a new life together, but their clashing taste in interior design is causing some tension.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interior Disaster

Kotetsu, a man who had plenty of bad luck in his life, a rough childhood made rougher by an absent father and incredibly volatile manifestation of NEXT powers, still considered himself pretty blessed. He grew out of his rough stage in high school when he fell in love with a girl. He married that girl and she had a beautiful baby. He became a hero, his childhood dream achieved. Things were all sunshine and roses living in the big city for four beautiful, blissful years. Then Tomoe got sick. 

Then she died. 

Kotetsu’s life bottomed out, his blessings faded away and he was left alone. It took him a long time to climb out of depression, to remember what it meant to keep a promise, to remember what it meant to be a father and a hero. Everyday became another struggle. He felt himself getting older as younger, brighter heroes joined the team. He struggled to keep up, to keep his promises. He struggled to be a good father, a good man. 

He didn’t think he’d ever fall in love again, much less with one of those younger, brighter heroes he silently resented. He definitely didn’t think he would fall in love with a man, either, much less one like Barnaby Brooks Jr.

He fell, and he fell hard right into Barnaby’s arms, a fact that the young man would never let him forget. It had taken him a while to come to terms with it, but now, somehow, he was in love again.

Life sure was weird sometimes. 

Love was weird. It was fun and stressful and exciting and annoying all at once. He had nearly forgotten what a rollercoaster it had been the first time, and now it was like he had to re-learn things all over again with new rules. Some things were pretty similar, and others were very, very different with Barnaby.

Tomoe hadn’t exactly been a delicate flower, but her health had never been the best. He had always been gentle with her, slow and clumsy in their early days, but passionate and intense. As a power-type NEXT, Kotetsu had leaned to be always hyper aware of how destructive he could be around her. He took great care with every touch, every motion. He loved her so much, wanted her so much, but he was afraid of hurting her somehow. He was afraid he would break her.

With Barnaby, he was more afraid of breaking the furniture.

“How about this one?” Barnaby asked, scrolling to a particular bedroom set picture on his computer screen.

Kotetsu squinted and pointed. “What the hell is that?”

“That’s the bedside table.”

“Are you sure it ain’t a Lego set?”

“Kotetsu,” Barnaby said warningly, “If you’re not gonna take this seriously...”

“I am taking it seriously! And that seriously looks like a toy! I’d stub my toe on that thing in the morning and it’d go down like a game of Jenga.”

“It’s Swedish Modern Design!” Barnaby said sternly. “I compromised on that hideous green couch you wanted to keep. The least you could do is not insult my choices.”

Kotetsu frowned and jutted out his lower lip. “I’m just saying... Maybe we could use something sturdier instead of this pre-fab stuff. It looks like it would crumple like wet cardboard if we so much as sat on it.”

Barnaby glowered at him for a moment, then sighed and looked back at his computer screen. “Perhaps you’re right. I wonder if they make them in steel.”

“I don’t wanna feel like we’re in a hospital bed, you know.”

Barnaby gritted his teeth. “I’ll put you in the hospital if you don’t shut up.”

Three months after they had come back to the hero business and gotten back together, Barnaby’s expensive California king-sized bed had practically snapped in half during a rather intense and intimate evening in. It had been startling in the moment, hilarious a few minutes later when they were done, and then just plain uncomfortable for the rest of the night. They had to drag the mattress off of the broken frame and sleep on it right on the floor. Kotetsu had laughed and said it was very Japanese, but complained of bad back the next day.

It had been the impetus for them to seriously start talking about moving in together. Kotetsu had been renting month-to-month in a cramped motel on the edge of town while he readjusted into the life of a second-string hero, living out of a suitcase and spending most nights at Barnaby’s. Now it was time for a real new start - a renewed career, a rekindled romance, and a new home together. It was more than Kotetsu could have ever dreamed. 

He had been overjoyed when Barnaby suggested they just just give up the ghost and get all new furniture and move in together.

That is, until the actual shopping began.


End file.
